You'd be sleepless too if it happened to you
by ebineez01
Summary: Set during the events of S1 episode 2 "There Goes the Neighbourhood". A little one-shot giving my insight into what Amanda might have been thinking after Lee told her to get her mind out of the gutter. Rated T just to be on the safe side as there are slightly adult themes only.


A/N

This is my first SMK fic. I've been enjoying reading SMK fics so much & rewatching the series that I thought I'd have a go. This is inspired in part by Jestress 'filler' fics which are awesome.  
I've always liked the idea of exploring what the characters might think or do in between certain scenes in the series.  
So this is my take of what could have happened in the second episode of series 1 -  
'There Goes the Neighbourhood' after a bare chested Lee goes upstairs after telling Amanda to "Get your mind outta the gutter would ya?"

There are some parts that are straight quotes from the episode but probably most people reading will know exactly which ones. All the usual - don't own SMK etc.

I hope you enjoy...

...

Amanda tried to stifle the huge yawn that erupted as she prepared to follow Lee out the kitchen door of their temporary residence. She'd been yawning uncontrollably since Lee had roused her in the small hours of the morning to go and search the Bodine's house. She hadn't missed the looks he was sending her for the past fifteen minutes as they got ready and talked through their plan one last time, and now he was downright glaring at her.

"Amanda," Lee remonstrated. "This is the _exact_ point I was trying to make earlier about needing some sleep before we go on missions like this."

Amanda blinked trying to seem like she was one hundred percent alert and focused on Lee, which was not an easy task when it was three in the morning and she had only just dosed off on the living room couch before he had switched on the lights without any warning declaring it was time to get up.

"Did you not listen to one word I said?" He asked. "Or are you just determined to always do the exact opposite of everything I tell you?"

He seemed to really be expecting an answer to that question as he stood in the open doorway and stared back at her. His behaving like this, which to Amanda seemed to be the way he behaved nearly all the time he was around her, would normally have had her more than ready to have a go back at him. This time however she was finding it difficult to be angry with him, mainly because she was so embarrassed about the real reason that she had been unable to sleep. So she lied.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not a super spy like you who can drift off to sleep at a moments notice when I know I'm about to break into a dead lady's house in the dead of the night to search for the reason she was killed which is more than likely because she stumbled onto an international gun smuggling racket who's members got blown up in the jungle by someone even _worse_ than they are..."

Lee just stared at her, knowing he really shouldn't be surprised that she managed to get that whole sentence out without taking a breath. He supposed he could understand why she would be a little apprehensive about the situation. But it was difficult for him to get used to. An agent of his calibre was used to working with professionals in his field and not...well...Amanda...

_Thank the gods it looks like he bought it_, thought Amanda as his expression softened and his mouth turned up a little at the edges in a smile. But thinking of his mouth just made Amanda recall rather vividly what had caused her sleepless state earlier in the evening..._damn Lee Stetson and his unbuttoned shirt!_

_:::::::: earlier that night ::::::::_

"What are you doing?" Amanda asked, trying not to sound too alarmed as Lee came out of the bathroom unbuttoning his shirt.

"I'm going to bed," he'd replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "We can't go over there until three or four in the morning."

Amanda's head spun a little at that statement coupled with the image in front of her of Lee's now bare chest...that she was trying really deliberately hard not to stare at.

_Lee's bare...smooth...toned..._

"Why not?" She asked. "Franks not there, he's at the Rosemonts."

"I don't want anyone up to watch us break in." He had to explain _everything_ to Amanda! And right now he was more concerned about getting some sleep. "Are you coming?"

"No!" Amanda replied. Was he really seriously serious about this? "I can't sleep here! How would I explain it? I would feel like I was lying and sneaking." _Oh my gosh!_ She thought as her eyes passed quickly over his bare chest. _I have to get out of this!_

For the whole rest of their exchange Amanda tried really _really_ hard to not look down. But a few times she just couldn't help herself. She realised that her focus had slipped away from his face, feeling a slight flush infuse her cheeks she pulled her eyes back up hoping he hadn't noticed her practically ogling him. She tried to continue with her argument, though she felt she was losing steam. "I would feel guilty...you know..." She had to look away so he wouldn't see how uncomfortable he was making her. "Like I was having a _thing_...or something...you know..." _Oh no! _Her eyes had slipped down to his chest again! She quickly looked back up.

"A thing?" He asked, all Mister Innocence...like he didn't know...

"Yes! You know..." _God this man was exasperating! "A thing..."_

"Like an affair."

Amanda noticed it was said more like a statement than a question. _And he didn't have to make it sound like the very idea would be like the equivalent of finding gum on the bottom of his shoe!_

"Yes, that kind of a thing," she replied.

"Well you're not!" Lee stated emphatically.

Amanda rolled her eyes slightly, unable to stop herself looking back down at his chest again. _Damn_!

"Now," Lee started again, gesturing towards the stairs. "Do you like a window open at night?"

How was she supposed to get through to this guy!? Standing up straighter a thought occurred to her. "Lee, I have to consider Dean!"

_Really_!? Thought Lee. _She's really going to bring What's His Face into this._

"Okay, how does he feel about windows?" He asked, for some reason hoping she didn't actually know the answer to that question.

Amanda realised that there really was no way out of this. She kept trying to push the image of Lee upstairs, in bed, with gosh knows what else bare besides his chest out of her head...but it wasn't working. She was thankful at least that he seemed to be attributing all her flustered reactions to the current situation to her not wanting to spend the night in a house alone with a man other than Dean, and not the fact that she was reacting to his open shirt, so she valiantly tried to push that point a little longer.

Lee wasn't buying it.

"...the important thing is we get some sleep. We tend to get killed less often that way." He said as he started for the stairs.

"Who gets the bed?" Amanda called out after him.

Lee stopped on the landing turning back to face her.

"The senior agent always gets the bed," he replied as if it was written in the 'Good Spy's Handbook' or something.

Amanda rolled her eyes at that really wishing she hadn't asked that question. Her imagination didn't need anymore prompting to be picturing Lee in bed.

"Get your mind outta the gutter would ya?" Lee finished, almost reading her mind as he finally turned away from her and went up the stairs.

Amanda turned back to the living room. Switching off the lights, she made her way to the couch in the patchy light steaming in from the street lights out the front. She didn't think she could be more mortified if she had actually started to drool in front of him. At that thought she couldn't stop her hand reaching up to wipe across her mouth just in case.

"Oh my gosh..." She whined as she dropped down onto the couch and cradled her head in her hands. "Way to go Amanda...just act like your a love struck teenager why don't you!"

_Lust struck more like!_ Her subconscious chimed in, making her groan.

As she lay back on the couch Amanda tried to get her mind off naked parts of Lee. She tried to focus on how much of an ass Lee had been all night, whinging nonstop about having to entertain their neighbours, making strawberry daiquiris and cooking the barbecue. Amanda thought getting to know the neighbours was supposed to be the point of the mission in the first place...but what did she know right?

She would just start to get good and mad at Lee's actions, then that little smirk he gave when he said '_A thing'_ would pop into her brain...swiftly followed by that beautifully smooth chest.

Amanda tossed and turned. Pulling the sofa cushion over her face she gave a frustrated groan.

"Snap out of it..." She said into the pillow. Moving it below her head again she willed herself to relax.

_Try counting sheep Amanda_, she heard her mothers voice advising in her head. So Amanda tried to picture a flock of woolly sheep lining up to take their turn to leap gracefully over a fence in a lovely green meadow, a little stream running slowly in the background. She actually felt herself start to relax a little. _This actually works!?_ She thought to herself...then bam! She was back in the house at the foot of the stairs and there he was again in all his naked chest glory. Except now he seemed to be missing his shirt altogether.

Amanda sighed and sat up.

"Why is this such a problem for me?" She wondered quietly as she sat on the couch in the dark.

Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes again and let herself visualise Lee sans shirt. She grimaced as she realised that even just thinking about him like that made her cheeks flush.

"Okay..." She murmured, her brow furrowing as she concentrated on the image in her mind. "I've seen men's naked chests before, so why am I getting all worked up about yours Scarecrow?" Her eyes popped open. "Huh!" She exclaimed softly. "Could it be as simple as that?"

While picturing Lee in her mind she realised the difference between him and the other men that she'd been with..._ohhh! Not that I've been with him...not like that!_ She chastised herself even though she was only thinking it.

Joe had been her first. He'd also been her only until Dean. And both of them were quite hairy, so maybe that's why Amanda had been so fixated on Lee's chest. Because it was so smooth...and brown...and the way his muscles stood out nicely...and...

"Oh!" She whined. "This isn't exactly helping..." She told herself miserably.

Lying back down she threw her arm over her face. Even though Lee was being not a very nice person earlier she knew he did have a very good point about getting some sleep so they wouldn't be tired when they went out later. _Maybe I should just let myself think about it instead of trying to stop myself thinking about it then I'll be over it and then I'll forget all about it then I can relax and goto sleep..._

Amanda realised she felt more relaxed already since she'd stopped trying to fight the images of Lee. She let herself replay the whole scene from the time he came out of the bathroom unbuttoning his shirt to the time he told her to get her mind out of the gutter. She couldn't help but smile at that. "First time anyone's ever said _that_ to me." She mumbled. But instead of the scene finishing with Lee walking away up the steps and her walking back into the living room, it had Lee walking back down the steps to stand in front of her.

_"Why are you so flushed Amanda?" Her imaginary Lee asked, his voice low._

_At his question, Amanda felt her face flame even more. "I'm not...I don't know what you're..." She tried to deny it, but knew from the smirk on his face and the knowing look in his eye that she'd been caught red handed - so to speak. She looked down not wanting him to see her embarrassment, or anything else that her seemingly transparent face had to tell him._

_The smirk faded from his face, replaced with something much more gentle as he placed a finger under her chin to move her eyes back to his. "You don't have to be embarrassed Amanda," he said gently. "We're both adults..." He waited for a beat. "If you like what you see...you should reach for it..."_

_She felt her eyes widen at that statement. Did he just say what I think he said?_

_As if reading her thoughts Lee continued. "It's okay..." He whispered._

_She couldn't believe this was happening. Things like this didn't happen in her suburban life. She was a mother of two small boys and an active member of the PTA, her life didn't include romantic passion filled evenings with gorgeous half naked spy's. She felt like a character out of one of the romance novels that she loved so much. Maybe even like her favourite character Victoria Greenwich._

_At the reassuring look in his eyes Amanda reached out and laid her hands flat on his chest. She was surprised by how soft and smooth his skin felt beneath her palms. Looking down to where her hands rested, she splayed her fingers out before running them slowly, lightly down over his ribs..._

_"Amanda..."_

_"Lee..." She replied a little breathlessly._

_"Amanda...what's with the goofy look?"_

_"Huh?" She asked, her eyes leaving her hands where they were positioned on his body to look back to his face._

"Amanda," his voice was louder, harsher. "Are you asleep? Wake up! It's time to get going!"

Her eyes sprang open. "Lee!" She cried. "I wasn't sleeping..."

He eyed her carefully. "You just had the silliest looking grin on your face..."

"I did?" She asked, hoping her face didn't look as red as it felt. "I was counting sheep, trying to get to sleep, maybe it was because I was thinking of the sheep."

"Sheep?" He asked, one brow raised skeptically.

"Yes Lee sheep," she confirmed. "Surely you've heard about counting sheep to get to sleep?"

Lee looked at her for a moment. "Well, yeah of course...I just didn't think anyone actually did it!"

Amanda could feel it building. She tried to stop it, but she couldn't, letting out a massive jaw cracking yawn.

"Oh great," Lee mumbled rolling his eyes and shaking his head before turning away to go into the kitchen. "Get into those black clothes I told you to bring." He called back over his shoulder.

_I can't believe he's mad at me already,_ Amanda thought and went to get changed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Lee turned back from the doorway to face Amanda properly so he could look her in the eye. Her yawning should have been no big deal to him, but it was getting on his nerves, and if he was honest with himself he knew it was because he was a little nervous about this search, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"It'll be okay Amanda," Lee tried to reassure her. "It's just a little recon on an empty house in the suburbs." He gave her that killer thousand megawatt grin. "You know I won't let anything happen to you."

Amanda smiled shyly. "I know you wouldn't Lee," she answered him truthfully. Even though she'd only known him a short while, she'd trust Lee with her life before she'd trust Dean. Right then it didn't even occur to her to question why. "Thank you."

Lee sighed loudly and smiled again shaking his head slightly.

"Come on Amanda," he said taking her hand and leading her out the door.

...

Well I hope you enjoyed reading. I have an idea for a longer fic in mind - with actual plot this time :)  
So please review if you liked this one so I know if anyone would be interested in reading another one.


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